Monday, September 16th begins a week long Reconciliation event in Vancouver that includes the sixth of seven national events hosted by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.  Each TRC National Event is dedicated to one of the Seven Sacred Teachings – love, respect, courage, honesty, wisdom, humility and truth.  The Vancouver event is dedicated to honesty.  It takes place from the 18th to 21st at the PNE.  A major component of this time is to hear and witness to the stories of survivors of the Residential Schools.  The full programme is available on the TRC website.

This Vancouver Sun article gives some background and describes the importance of this event.  The article begins “Blame and anger will not be the emotions fuelling 76-year-old residential school survivor Alvin Dixon as he takes part in Truth and Reconciliation events in Vancouver next week.  He instead is seeking mutual respect from all Canadians, as a way to acknowledge past sins to First Nations children and commit to working together to build a better future.”  Dixon serves on the United Church’s General Council Executive.

A brief description of the event, United Church participation, and some history are found on the BC Conference website.

For information on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Residential Schools see Truth and Reconciliation on this website.